Screenplay

Documentary Script

ASSESSMENT

A Documentary Film

Format: Feature documentary (90-100 minutes) or 3-part limited series Tone: Observational verite with explanatory interludes. Dirty Money structure, Chernobyl pacing, The Big Short explainers. Style: No narrator. Subjects tell their own stories. Graphics and data cards fill the gaps. Music is minimal — ambient Florida, air conditioning hum, ocean wind, the silence of empty hallways.

COLD OPEN

EXT. SURFSIDE, FLORIDA — NIGHT — JUNE 24, 2021

Black screen.

The sound of the ocean. Distant traffic.

Then: a low, structural groan. Concrete cracking — not an explosion, not sudden. A SETTLING sound. Like a house of cards beginning to fold.

SURVEILLANCE CAMERA FOOTAGE (real — publicly available): The pool deck of Champlain Towers South sags, then drops. A cascade begins. The center of the building falls into itself. Twelve stories compress into rubble in approximately twelve seconds.

Dust billows outward.

Silence.

Then sirens.

TITLE CARD:

98 people died.

Champlain Towers South had $777,000 in reserves to cover $16.2 million in structural repairs.

The building’s engineers had warned the board three years earlier.

The board had warned the owners.

The owners voted it down.

TITLE CARD:

In the aftermath, Florida passed the most aggressive condominium safety laws in American history.

They were designed to prevent the next collapse.

This film is about what happened instead.

ASSESSMENT

ACT ONE: THE FIX

How well-intentioned legislation created an impossible mandate.

SEQUENCE 1: THE LEGISLATION

ARCHIVAL: Governor Ron DeSantis signs SB 4-D in 2022. Surrounded by legislators. Applause.

CHYRON: SB 4-D — Signed May 26, 2022

A FLORIDA STATE LEGISLATOR (composite/real — to be identified in pre-production) explains the thinking:

LEGISLATOR After Surfside, we had to act. You can’t look at 98 dead people and say ‘let’s study this for a few more years.’ The buildings in this state had been deferring maintenance for decades. Boards were waiving reserves every single year. We ended that.

CUT TO:

A STRUCTURAL ENGINEER in a hard hat, standing in a parking garage. Water stains on the ceiling. Exposed rebar.

ENGINEER The law says: inspect every building over 30 years old. Do a reserve study. Fund the reserves. No more waivers. In principle? That’s correct. That’s what should have happened all along.

(beat)

The problem is the timeline. You’re asking buildings that deferred maintenance for forty years to fund it in two.

EXPLANATORY INTERLUDE — “THE MATH”

Simple graphics. White text on black. No music.

CARD 1:

Florida has approximately 1.5 million condominium units.

CARD 2:

37% are in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

CARD 3:

The new law requires a Structural Integrity Reserve Study (SIRS) for every condo building 3+ stories tall and 30+ years old.

CARD 4:

As of early 2025, 62% of South Florida condo associations had failed to complete a SIRS by the deadline.

CARD 5:

Not because they didn’t want to. Because of what the studies found.

SEQUENCE 2: THE ENVELOPE

We follow a condo board president opening the SIRS results.

INT. COMMUNITY ROOM — A FLORIDA CONDO BUILDING — DAY

Fluorescent lights. Folding tables. A water cooler.

ELENA (board president, mid-60s, retired teacher — composite character based on reported cases) sits at a folding table with two other board members. An ENGINEERING CONSULTANT opens a manila folder.

CONSULTANT The study covers roof, structure, plumbing, electrical, waterproofing, windows, and the parking deck. Here’s the summary.

He slides a single page across the table.

Elena reads. Her face changes.

ELENA Thirty-eight million dollars?

CONSULTANT That’s the ten-year reserve requirement. The immediate critical items are fourteen million.

Silence.

BOARD MEMBER #2 We have… two hundred and twelve units.

CONSULTANT That’s roughly sixty-six thousand per unit for the critical items alone. The full reserve is about a hundred and eighty thousand per unit.

Elena takes off her reading glasses. Sets them on the table.

ELENA Half our owners are on Social Security.

BOARD MEMBER #2 Can we get a loan? Finance it over ten years, fifteen years?

CONSULTANT Against what? The building’s common areas? There’s no standard lending product for this. Banks don’t underwrite condo associations for structural repairs. Your building sits on forty million dollars of land and you can’t borrow a dime against it.

Silence.

ELENA So our only option is to bill each owner sixty-six thousand dollars. In cash. Right now.

CONSULTANT That’s the structure of the law, yes.

ACT TWO: THE PEOPLE

Four storylines. Four buildings. Four versions of the impossible choice.

STORYLINE A: THE FIREFIGHTER

ALEX (25, firefighter) and MARIA (25, nurse) — based on the real WLRN-reported case at Whitehall Condominiums, West Palm Beach.

INT. THEIR CONDO — EVENING

A small, clean one-bedroom. Wedding magazines on the coffee table. A fire department calendar on the wall.

ALEX We were happy. We were living. We were managing things. We just started planning our wedding.

He holds up a letter from the condo association.

ALEX Our monthly went from six hundred to fourteen hundred. Overnight. And they’re saying there’s a special assessment coming on top of that.

(beat)

I’m a firefighter. She’s a nurse. We’re not making bad choices. We did what you’re supposed to do — bought instead of rented. Built equity.

(looks at Maria)

Now suddenly we’re house-hunting and thinking about what we’re going to do.

EXT. THEIR BUILDING — DAY

A FOR SALE sign in the lobby. Then another. Then a third.

MARIA (V.O.):

The realtor said our unit is worth maybe fifteen percent less than what we paid. Because of the assessment. And the buyer would inherit it.

So who’s going to buy it?

STORYLINE B: THE RETIREE

DOLORES (79, retired) — based on the reported case of a 79-year-old owner hit with a $224,000 special assessment.

INT. DOLORES’S CONDO — DAY

Small. Immaculate. Photos of grandchildren on every surface. A view of the ocean through salt-stained windows.

DOLORES I paid a hundred and ninety thousand for this unit in 2003. My husband and I were going to retire here. He passed in 2017.

(beat)

The assessment is two hundred and twenty-four thousand dollars. That’s more than I paid for the apartment. My monthly maintenance doubled from fifteen hundred to three thousand.

She opens a drawer. Pulls out a stack of papers.

DOLORES I called my daughter. She said, ‘Mom, take out a home equity loan.’ I called the bank. They said no — they won’t lend against the unit because the building isn’t in compliance.

I called another bank. Same thing. I called a credit union. Same thing.

She spreads the rejection letters on the table.

DOLORES The building is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The land alone — right here on the water — they said it’s worth more than all the repairs combined.

But there’s no way to borrow against the building as a whole. Each owner has to come up with the cash individually. I’m seventy-nine. No bank is giving me a two-hundred-thousand-dollar loan.

(long pause)

If I could pay eight hundred a month for fifteen years, I could manage. But nobody offers that.

(voice breaks)

So I can’t pay the assessment. I can’t borrow against the unit. I can’t sell it — who’s buying? And if I don’t pay, they put a lien on it and eventually they foreclose.

Where am I supposed to go?

STORYLINE B-2: THE TEACHER WHO UN-RETIRED

JANET STONE (real name, real person) — retired teacher and school administrator. Ormond Beach, Florida.

INT. A CLASSROOM — LAS VEGAS, NEVADA — DAY

A woman in her late 60s sits on the floor with a circle of small children. Ages 3 to 5. Several are non-verbal. She’s patient, practiced.

CHYRON: Janet Stone — 50 years in education — Ormond Beach, FL → Las Vegas, NV

JANET I taught for fifty years. Fifty. I was a teacher, then a school administrator. When I retired, I bought a condo overlooking the Atlantic. Four hundred thousand dollars. My dream.

CUT TO:

EXT. A FLORIDA BEACHFRONT CONDO — DAY (B-ROLL or photo)

JANET (V.O.) The special assessment came in at over a hundred thousand. Concrete restoration. New windows. Reserve increases.

I’m a retired teacher, so we don’t have hundreds of thousands set aside somewhere that we can contribute.

CUT BACK TO:

INT. LAS VEGAS CLASSROOM

JANET I had to un-retire. I called a school I’d worked at before, here in Vegas. They took me back. Now I teach three-to-five-year-olds with autism.

(beat)

I love these kids. But I shouldn’t be here. I should be in my apartment watching the ocean.

(beat)

A similar unit to mine just listed for three-thirty-five. I paid four hundred. So even if I could sell, I’d lose sixty-five thousand dollars AND still owe the assessment.

STORYLINE B-3: THE 20-YEAR LOAN

CRISTIAN MURRAY (real name, real person) — recently retired. Palm Bay Yacht Club, Miami.

INT. CRISTIAN’S CONDO — DAY

A modest waterfront unit. The view is spectacular. The hallway outside his door is half-empty — other units dark.

CHYRON: Cristian Murray — Palm Bay Yacht Club — Miami

CRISTIAN I bought in 2016. Just retired. Then the assessment came. A hundred and forty thousand.

He pulls up a loan statement on his phone.

CRISTIAN I took a personal loan. Twenty years. A thousand dollars a month. On top of my mortgage. On top of my condo fees, which are already three thousand.

(beat)

I’ll be paying this until I’m eighty.

The building is insured for twenty million. It’s worth a hundred million. But the association can’t borrow against the common property. So each of us has to go out and get our own financing at personal loan rates — eight, nine, ten percent.

If someone could lend against the building itself — the land, the structure, the common areas — and let us pay it back over time… that would change everything.

(shakes his head)

But that doesn’t exist.

STORYLINE C: THE BOARD PRESIDENT

RAFAEL (58, accountant, volunteer board president) — composite based on reported board conflicts at 1060 Brickell and Palm Bay Yacht Club.

INT. RAFAEL’S HOME OFFICE — NIGHT

He’s at his computer. Email inbox is full. Subject lines visible: “URGENT,” “This is criminal,” “You should be ashamed,” “I’m contacting my lawyer.”

RAFAEL I volunteered for this. Nobody runs for condo board because they want power. You run because nobody else will.

(beat)

The engineer told us fourteen million in critical repairs. I didn’t make that number up. I didn’t pick the engineer. The state told us we had to do the study. The study told us the number.

Now I’m the one who has to stand in front of two hundred people and tell them they each owe sixty thousand dollars.

INT. COMMUNITY MEETING ROOM — NIGHT

A packed room. People standing along the walls. The energy is hostile.

RAFAEL stands at a podium. Behind him, a projected slide reads: SPECIAL ASSESSMENT — STRUCTURAL RESERVE COMPLIANCE

An OWNER stands. She’s shaking.

OWNER I want to know who’s getting rich off this. Because it’s not us.

Another OWNER:

OWNER #2 My unit is worth less than the assessment! I can’t sell it! What am I supposed to do, just hand you sixty thousand dollars?

RAFAEL at the podium:

RAFAEL I understand. I own a unit too. I’m paying the same assessment you are.

(scattered jeering)

If we don’t fund these repairs, the building fails its inspection. If it fails inspection, we get condemned. If we get condemned—

OWNER #3 (shouting) Then condemn it! At least I won’t owe sixty grand!

Silence.

Rafael closes his folder.

EXPLANATORY INTERLUDE — “THE DOOM LOOP”

Animated graphic. Simple. Clinical.

A building diagram. Owners leave. Each departure makes the per-unit cost higher for remaining owners. More leave. The building empties. The assessment per remaining owner approaches infinity. The building sits empty.

TEXT CARD:

Fewer owners paying = Higher cost per remaining owner = More owners leaving = Higher cost per remaining owner = Building can’t fund repairs = Condemnation

STORYLINE D: THE ZOMBIE

Based on Biscayne 21, 2121 N. Bayshore Drive, Miami.

EXT. BISCAYNE 21 — DAY

A 13-story waterfront tower. Gorgeous location. Biscayne Bay shimmering behind it.

The building is empty. Windows dark. Parking lot overgrown. A chain across the entrance.

CHYRON: Biscayne 21 — 192 units — Miami

REPORTER (V.O.) The Wall Street Journal called it “a zombie on prime waterfront land.”

INT. EMPTY HALLWAY — BISCAYNE 21

Handheld camera. Dusty. Emergency lighting only. The hum of nothing.

HOLDOUT OWNER (one of the 8 who refused to sell) They bought a hundred and eighty-four units. Then they told the eight of us to leave. Then they turned off the water. The electricity.

(beat)

They wanted to knock it down and build luxury condos. Marriott Edition. Three towers.

We said no.

CUT TO:

COURTROOM. Archival footage or stills.

CHYRON: Third District Court of Appeal — March 2024 “A condo association cannot be terminated without the consent of all unit owners.”

CHYRON: Florida Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal — October 2024

CHYRON: January 2026: Judge orders developer to reinstate the association and repair the building.

HOLDOUT OWNER They spent years trying to get rid of us. Now they have to put it back together.

(looks at the building)

But who’s going to live here?

ACT THREE: THE RECKONING

Pulling back. Seeing the system.

SEQUENCE 5: THE ENGINEERS DISAGREE

Based on Palm Bay Yacht Club — $46M vs. $23M estimates.

Two engineering reports side by side on screen.

CARD:

Palm Bay Yacht Club — Miami Built 1982 — 235 units — 27 stories

Engineer A: $46 million in repairs needed. Engineer B: $23 million in repairs needed.

The difference: $23 million. Per unit: $97,000 difference.

CONDO ATTORNEY When two licensed engineers look at the same building and one says forty-six million and the other says twenty-three — which one do you believe?

(beat)

And more importantly — who’s paying the twenty-three million difference?

SEQUENCE 6: THE POLITICAL RESPONSE

ARCHIVAL: Governor DeSantis, January 2025. Calls for a special legislative session on the condo crisis.

CHYRON: The Legislature declined.

Then: April 2025. The Senate unanimously passes a reform bill.

STATE SENATOR The original law was a blunt instrument. You can’t tell a seventy-nine-year-old woman she owes two hundred thousand dollars by December and call that safety reform.

CHYRON: HB 913 — Signed June 2025 Allows credit lines. Extends deadlines. Permits 2-year pause on reserve contributions.

HOUSING POLICY ANALYST HB 913 is a Band-Aid. It lets you borrow against the future instead of paying today. That helps with the cash-flow crisis. But the repairs still need to happen. The concrete is still corroding.

You didn’t solve the problem. You moved it.

SEQUENCE 7: THE MARKET

Data visualization sequence. No narration — just numbers.

CARD: South Florida condo listings: 20,080 (Q3 2024) — up 143% CARD: Fort Lauderdale listings: up 70% year-over-year CARD: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac: buildings not in compliance are non-warrantable — no conventional mortgage available CARD: No mortgage = cash buyers only = distressed pricing CARD: Average Florida condo owner age: 62

SEQUENCE 7B: THE BUYOUT (COUNTER-EXAMPLE)

Based on Bay Garden Manor — 1250 West Avenue, Miami Beach.

EXT. BAY GARDEN MANOR — DAY

A 15-story tower on the water. Built 1964. It looks tired.

CHYRON: Bay Garden Manor — Miami Beach — 238 units — Built 1964 Sold to developers for $120 million — 2025

REAL ESTATE ATTORNEY Bay Garden Manor is the success story everyone points to. Developer consortium paid a hundred and twenty million. Residents got bought out. Building gets demolished. Luxury tower goes up.

(beat)

But this only works for buildings on land that’s worth more than the repairs. Prime Miami Beach waterfront. What about a forty-year-old mid-rise in Hialeah? Nobody’s paying a hundred and twenty million for that dirt.

(beat)

The buildings that need help the most are the ones sitting on land nobody wants to develop.

SEQUENCE 7C: THE APPRAISER

INT. OFFICE — A COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE APPRAISER — DAY

A desk covered in property records. South Florida condo surveys.

APPRAISER Here’s what nobody talks about. The typical South Florida condo building — let’s say two hundred units, built 1985, waterfront — the land and common areas are worth thirty, forty, fifty million dollars. Combined.

But there’s no product — no loan, no bond, no instrument — that lets a condo association borrow against that value to fund structural repairs and spread the cost over time.

(beat)

A corporation in the same position would issue bonds. A city would issue municipal debt. A homeowner would get a home equity line.

A condo association? Their only tool is a special assessment. A lump sum bill to each individual owner. Payable now.

(beat)

It’s the most primitive financing structure in American real estate. And it’s being asked to solve a two-hundred-billion-dollar problem.

SEQUENCE 8: THE QUESTION NOBODY ASKS

Back to Elena, the board president from the opening.

INT. COMMUNITY ROOM — MONTHS LATER

The room is half-empty now. Fewer board members. Elena looks tired.

ELENA Everyone asks: how do we pay for the repairs?

Nobody asks: what happens to the building when we can’t?

(beat)

Salt air doesn’t stop because the people left. The rebar keeps corroding. The concrete keeps cracking. The water keeps getting in.

We’re going to have empty high-rises rotting on the coast of Florida. Not one or two. Dozens. Maybe hundreds.

(beat)

And then what? We wait for another one to fall?

CLOSING SEQUENCE

EXT. VARIOUS FLORIDA CONDOS — GOLDEN HOUR

A montage of aging condo towers along the Florida coast. Shot from the beach, looking up. Some are lit. Some are half-dark. Some are completely dark.

The sound of the ocean.

Then: the sound of a building’s ventilation system shutting down. A mechanical exhale.

Silence.

CLOSING CARDS:

As of 2025, 62% of South Florida condo associations had not completed a mandatory structural reserve study.

Those that did found an average funding gap of tens of millions of dollars per building.

Florida’s 1.5 million condo units sit on land worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

There is no standard financial product that allows a condo association to borrow against that value and spread repair costs over time.

There is no state fund. There is no federal program.

There is only the special assessment: a lump-sum bill, due now, to each individual owner.

The concrete is still corroding.

TITLE:

ASSESSMENT

END

APPENDIX: PRODUCTION NOTES

Access Strategy

Archival Sources

Graphics & Data

Music Direction

Minimal. Ambient. The sound design does more than the score. - Florida atmosphere: ocean, AC compressors, elevator dings, empty hallways - Board meeting rooms: fluorescent hum, chair scraping, angry voices fading - The absence of sound when showing empty buildings - A single piano note for title cards (think Chernobyl)

Estimated Runtime